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show’s 26 ordered episodes is jug- gling the various studios charged with the different techniques re- quired for each skit.
“We have roughly eight artists working in-house, and a floating stable of seven or eight outside stu- dios involved,” he explains. “Theo- retically, the production time is two weeks per episode … however, due to the nature of so many disparate animation pieces, approvals tend to stretch that time frame out a bit!” However, the toon veteran says that working with and mixing the various styles into a cohesive end product is his favorite aspect of molding this eclectic series.
As Shinick explains, “Just like a single issue of MAD Magazine fea- tures the different styles of Sergio Aragonés, Mort Drucker, Tom Rich- mond, Don Martin, Spy vs. Spy and an assortment of others, we’re do- ing the same thing with the very same artists, while also adding new artists with their own distinct style.” Marek reveals that the series will in- corporate techniques and technolo- gies including Flash, After Effects, Maya, stop-motion, traditional cel and photo collage. Shinick has a simpler answer: “I use something called a ‘Mark Marek.’ It’s a little slow, but man does it do a good job!”
Of course, working with so many dif- ferent techniques can bring up the challenges that each presents. “Stop- motion is probably the most difficult style to work with, due to the unforgiving nature of the technique,” Marek opines. “You essentially get one shot at render- ing and shooting your models, therefore
it takes a bit more pre- planning before you get to that stage.” However, Marek is quick to say that de- spite the added diffi- culty, the stop-motion pieces are some of his favorite elements in the show. He is also a fan of the movie parodies (“Trans-bore-mores” and “The Fantastic Me- gan Fox” for example); “It’s fun to work long- form—relatively speak- ing, in a show that fea- tures 10-second bits for the most part!”
For Shinick, the faux commercials strike a chord, and keep your eyes peeled for his top pick parody “Grey’s in Anime.” But genius genre splicing doesn’t always come easy! “Since most people discover MAD somewhere between the ages of eight and 15, we wanted to make that our target audience,” he shares, “So at first I was like, ‘What are these shows I have to parody? Who are these people?’ Luckily we have a diverse writing and animating staff, so that our spectrum of pop culture references covers a wide area … re- sulting in such craziness as ‘CSiCarly,’ for example!”
With so many animated comedies for audiences to choose from, MAD should be served well by its stand-out mix-n-match style and shameless sass- ing of our golden pop culture idols. Marek believes those who tune in will be impressed by the show’s energy, edgy writing and visual variety. And Shinick concurs. “When you watch the show, I think it’ll be hard not to appreciate the amount of time and energy that’s gone into bringing it to life. But I really just want people to enjoy it for what MAD has always been.” Which is?
“Joyful stupidity.”
…And who doesn’t need more of that in their life? ■
The Heart of MADness: Warner
Bros. assembled a varied roster of studios and artists to create diverse new looks for MAD’s lampooning skits, as well as bring back old favorites like Alfred E. Neuman.
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ast year, when it was widely report- ed that Discovery Communica- tions and Hasbro were launching a new kids’ cable channel called The Hub, everyone in the business was curi- ous about the kinds of shows the new outlet would be offering. This fall, after months of care-ful planning and spending about $20 million to pro- mote its content, The Hub is ready to unveil its eclec- tic line-up on Oc- tober 10, when it will launch to about 60 million homes. “Our goal is to appeal to a broad group of viewers and well over 50 percent of our content will be animated,” says the joint ven- ture’s president and CEO Marga- ret Loesch. “We like to follow one working philoso- phy of animation
and that is anything is possible— from the most elaborate CG ani- mation to simpler more elemen- tary types of material. We have an open-door policy to all kinds of animation.”
Loesch, who has led numerous entertainment companies over the past few decades (including Fox Kids Network, Jim Henson TV, Hallmark Channel and The Hatch- ery) says she is looking forward to mov- ing full force ahead with a full slate of
new programs. “We are offering 10 new animated series, and that’s a lot given the fact that we’re just starting out. We think this is the largest amount of new production for a kids network launch, because both Nick and Cartoon Net- work were already on the air for a while
before they went full steam ahead with new productions.”
Out of the approxi- mate 1,339 episodes of new programming acquired by The Hub, the majority is ani- mation, says Loesch during a phone in- terview from her Bur- bank-based offices.
“I would say that the qualities we’re looking for in our programs are playful- ness and an adherence to the values of discovery and exploration, but first and foremost, we look for well-written sto- ries. One other thing we’re looking for is something that parents can share with their children—a sense of nostalgia, new versions of shows that kids’ parents might h a v e grown up with—pro- grams like F r a g g l e Rock, My Little Pony or G.I. Joe.” Loesch says she finds that this sense of fa- m i l i a r i t y with the b r a n d s has been r e s o n a t - ing with many of The Hub’s advertis- ers. “We walk in to the room and show a clip from the new show My Little Pony, and there’s an instant connection with those who used to watch the original show as kids, and now they can share this new version with their children.” She has also noted that The Hub has been able to of- fer advertisers better prices than some of its competition—a factor that certainly adds up to the allure of the cabler in these financially chal- lenging times.
Margaret Loesch